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"When we were working on TimeSplitters 1 and 2 we were completely left alone, [publisher] Eidos didn't look at the game, they didn't have milestone builds that they looked at and decided whether to pay us. They paid us at the start of the month, every month, and we got our heads down and worked on the game, we delivered a version for QA and that's really the first time they looked at the game.

"From a developer's point of view that's a great way of working because you're not constrained by having to jump through hoops in order to get paid, those hoops that internally-developed games don't have to jump through. As we started working with Ubisoft on Haze that wasn't the situation anymore, they were very much involved in the day-to-day running of things and the decisions that were made, in a really weird and indirect way."

...

Ubisoft didn't see it as interference, it was putting in place a system that has since been accepted as a significant part of the development process - using metrics for design.

In 2006 Free Radical also inked a deal with LucasArts for a game that was never officially named but is believed to have been Star Wars: Battlefront III. It was another step away from owned intellectual property for Free Radical, but the lucrative nature of the project and the chance to work on one of the most revered franchises suited the team. And on top of that, there was a really strong relationship between Free Radical's founders and LucasArts president Jim Ward and VP of product development Peter Hirschman.

...

In fact, it was going so well that by the end of 2007 LucasArts asked Free Radical to work on another Battlefront game, according to Ellis. "We were still at that time probably a year out from completing and releasing the first game and they asked us to sign up for the sequel.

But at the beginning of 2008 there was a shift in focus at LucasArts, with president Jim Ward stepping down in February and the axe falling later in the year on more internal staff including Peter Hirschman.

...

Drastic measures lead to LucasArts canning both projects in development, the first of which was almost complete. Ellis wouldn't be drawn on the actual details of the game, but enough footage of Star Wars Battlefront III has long since appeared on YouTube and LucasArts no longer removes the videos on copyright grounds.

...

The break was all the more galling as the first LucasArts project was almost complete, says Ellis. "It was pretty much done, it was in final QA. It had been in final QA for half of 2008 it was just being fixed for release."

It's a little hard to believe. NeoGAF is pretty plugged into the industry and some of the word is that these guys are primadonnas, and to take his words with a grain of salt. I'm finding it hard to believe a publisher would dump a near-completed game. Even without marketing that thing would recoup some of the losses, right?

It has happened before. Remember the Mac version of Half Life was 95% done when it was dumped. Halo was scrapped and completely changed when Microsoft bought Bungie. Starcraft Ghost ran into all types of dev issues, although not sure how far along it was. Was 4 years in the making before it got axed though.

The game's official unveiling, which comes after months of rumors, shows off gameplay that seems taken directly from the Smash Bros. playbook, with up to four 3D characters darting quickly around vast, platform-filled 2D playfields. While Smash Bros. is focused on knocking characters off the edge of the stage, however, Battle Royale has players using small attacks to fill a meter that can be used to unleash three levels of elaborate special moves, which are the main method of scoring kills.

As I wandered through an orange-hued desert, coming dangerously close to outright frolicking, I noticed a figure striding into distant view. Here I met another nameless nomad, and one that shared my appreciation of tasteful, unfettered fabrics. A friend? Another traveler compelled to reach the mysterious obelisk at the center of the world? "Would u like 2 work 2gether," he said in a text bubble. "I know how 2 get 2 the mountain and beat the game."

Okay, that absolutely did not happen, and if it did it would ruin the story. Aside from an innocent, sonar-like ping, there's no communication between online players in Journey. We used that pulse to suss out secret spots for one another, or to find each other if an exciting downhill dune-slide separated us. We became friends, discovering a world that perfectly oscillates between trepidation, wonder and fatigue during the course of the game.

Alas, after our long trek through the sand and air, my friend ventured too close to an edge. As I turned around, too late, I saw the frigid crevice swallowing him whole. (Or maybe he got disconnected, or left to make dinner. That's a detail I'd rather not append to the story.) I braved the final, wind-hewn ascent up the mountain alone, and it felt lonelier, more grueling and more tragic than I could have expecte

Discovered earlier today by Reddit users, publisher Electronic Arts is remotely deactivating all iOS Rock Band installs on May 31. The developer of the game, Harmonix Music Systems, says it is unaware of the reasoning behind Electronic Arts' shutdown of the game, which relies on no external server support to function.

Sorry, I don't believe their excuse. There was no mistake. EA intended to drop support on this game. Why the hell would they update the FAQ only to retract it a few hours later?

From the article you posted:

The clarification from EA replaces the explanation they had in the FAQ section of the website which stated that they were "suspending support for ROCK BAND after May 31 and focusing resources on other EA titles."

Microsoft is preparing to take a page from the cell phone carrier playbook by offering the Xbox 360 at a substantial initial discount, followed by a two year subscription service, according to The Verge. The bundle, which would cost $100 up front and $15 a month afterwards, includes a Kinect, Xbox Live Gold service, a two-year warranty and possibly various types of streaming content. The package deal may go on sale as early as next week at Microsoft's various retail locations across the country.

With how console prices were a huge barrier to entry this gen, and companies unable to afford taking massive losses on the hardware (a la Sony), I think I've wondered aloud here a few tmes how in the hell they're going to compromise between pricing and technology. This seems like testing the waters for a possible solution to next-gen.

Like you said Dakar high barriers to entry will hurt anyones initial market share and install base, pricing options like this are an easy way to lower those barriers for the "casual gamer", although I like this pricing structure from that perspective I worry that this will not create flexible price options for the next gen but rather force us into an even heavier subscription based model.

$100 plus a monthly fee, contract ends only 10-15% higher than the outright sales price... Not bad, but does this "pilot" progrm show M$ and Sony that they can run this model next gen with a 25-30% hike on the total cost?

Flexibile pricing models works for me... Just don't loose that flexibility next gen.

"It was a troubled development," says Doak. "Because that's when we found out how Activision worked. Bobby Kotick really loves developers! He wouldn't even speak to us, and we never spoke to him. He's quite happy to have some people put us out of business, but only does calls with investors. That was like the night of the long knives. We stood up to Activision, we had good legal counsel and they told us the right things to say. It looked like it was going to put us under for a bit, but didn't."

Free Radical's other project at this time was the last TimeSplitters game, Future Perfect. After TimeSplitters 2 EA had come sniffing around, and Free Radical was ready to listen. "EA Partners was this part of EA that was involved with third-party things," says Doak. "It was a bit like being groomed, you know. Here's all these friendly avuncular people that will give you all the love and attention you need to get your game out, and then after a while they go away and all the bad guys come around and it's like you're in borstal. Getting held down, beaten around the head with a cue ball in a sock."

But LucasArts began to press hard on other, less quantifiable, issues. "Stalling tactics," says Graeme Norgate. "If a publisher wants to find something that is wrong with a milestone, it's very easy for them to do so as there are so many grey areas within a deliverable. If the contract says, 'Graphics for level X to be release quality,' who can say what's release quality? And there you have it."

"LucasArts hadn't paid us for six months," says Norgate "and were refusing to pass a milestone so we would limp along until the money finally ran out. They knew what they were doing, and six months of free work to pass on to Rebellion wasn't to be sniffed at." Part of the eventual agreement between LucasArts and Free Radical saw certain assets passed on to Rebellion Studios. For a time LucasArts was tempted by the thought of a hastily put together Battlefront 3, but nothing came of it. When presented with the allegations put forth by this investigation, LucasArts said simply that it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

...

LucasArts wanted to find an exit, and the balance of power swung firmly in its favour. "What we found out in 2008 is that your contract is only worth as much as how far you can pursue it in court," says Steve Ellis. "Say the contract is, 'If publisher wants out, they have to pay X million pounds to developer.' Well, what if they don't? What are you going to do about it?"

Having to pay money to play online multiplayer is the biggest scam in gaming ever. Having to buy XBox credits to buy content is the second biggest scam ever. And now, bringing the cell-phone contract scheme to the console market is a nasty, nasty move. If this becomes the new normal for console sales, I might actually begin to feel sorry for console gamers.

Having to pay money to play online multiplayer is the biggest scam in gaming ever. Having to buy XBox credits to buy content is the second biggest scam ever. And now, bringing the cell-phone contract scheme to the console market is a nasty, nasty move. If this becomes the new normal for console sales, I might actually begin to feel sorry for console gamers.

It looks like the analysts were right in their suspicions that EA and Bioware's The Old Republic MMO is already losing subscribers just a few months after its late 2011 launch. In an earnings report issued today, EA announced that the game currently has 1.3 million active subscribers, down nearly 25 percent from the 1.7 million active subscribers reported in March.

The announcement runs counter to previous statements from Bioware Lead Writer Daniel Erickson, who said last month that dropping server populations did not indicate a reduction in active subscribers.

MMOs as we know them are dying. I'm curious what will be their next evolution.

Elder Scrolls seems to think that they have something different, but how can it be that different to WoW?

Somebody very clever will have to come up with something very clever AND that makes money. My limited gaming knowledge says that the EAs/Activisions/etc. are a bit like the record companies : they only know how to make money using the present models (for MMOs).

I'm waiting for the CODification of an MMO (not to play, but because it seems inevitable). The fact that they haven't done it yet makes me think that they're either shy to the large initial investment for something untried, or internal drafts haven't been promising.

I think that you're right, but I just can't imagine how it would work long term. When you look at the time that dedicated people spend playing WoW, our 30 days in MW2 is nothing. I wonder if you could actually make money playing stuff like this, then it might be popular for a good length of time. 500 MS points for every claymore kill between midnight and 2am anybody?

Not surprised about The Old Republic. I just can't work up the energy to log-in, which means to me I'm tired of doing the same grind I got tired of in WoW.

But I guess my first question would be: should be use WoW as the barometer? Up until WoW, most MMOs got by with a few hundred thousand subscribers. Ultima, EQ, etc have survived for years without WoW-type numbers. Not to say any developer shouldn't strive for that, but maybe that was capturing lightning in a bottle and other MMO universes will be sustainable at the previous number levels?

Not surprised about The Old Republic. I just can't work up the energy to log-in, which means to me I'm tired of doing the same grind I got tired of in WoW.

But I guess my first question would be: should be use WoW as the barometer? Up until WoW, most MMOs got by with a few hundred thousand subscribers. Ultima, EQ, etc have survived for years without WoW-type numbers. Not to say any developer shouldn't strive for that, but maybe that was capturing lightning in a bottle and other MMO universes will be sustainable at the previous number levels?

It's a valid point. Sort of like Call of Duty – most games can get by on a few mil copies. Problem is everybody wants to be the next WoW or CoD, so get these massive expensive projects like TOR.

America's Army was pretty much a COD MMO back in the day, not sure if its still going. The payment model is the critical part they have to figure out. Paying a monthly fee to play these games is one of the big factors no matter how good the game is, IMO. If you are going to charge a monthly the client software should be free as I can't do anything with it anyhow without paying. $50, then a monthly I'm just going for. I'd love to play The Old Republic, but I'm not paying a monthly for it. The free play with micro I find I purchase more on if I like the game. The only MMO I found that I like is Star Trek Online, I've spend money purchasing a few things on that hear and there, but at its all optional, if I didn't want to. Most companies have found people spending more money with this model as of late, which is why quite a few were switching to 'Free to Play' (DC Online, Star Trek Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online). Another good one is charge for the client with free online (StarHawk, MAG, Guild Wars). I'm curious though to see the actually breakdowns on all of the business models. For me anything without a monthly fee, I'd try.

That's a good point, one of the evolutions of MMOs I forgot about is that they're increasingly becoming free-to-play. I've heard many a comment on NeoGAf as to how they're waiting to try TOR when it goes free-to-play.

"When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing. Since then, we've uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary," said Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine. "Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we've decided to move the game's release to February."

I heard they're adding multiplayer to the game, which I imagine has to be a concession from Levine to the publisher.

The game features users fighting ground battles in wars on planets in the Eve Online universe. According to a preview by Edge, the events that happen in this game will affect the EVE Online universe. Battles in this game can also determine who controls various planets in the EVE universe, and users in DUST 514 can interact with users from the EVE universe such as providing mercenary assistance during planet battles. In an interview conducted by Simon Carless of Gamasutra, Petursson said that he hopes "these [Eve Online and DUST 514] communities will meld over time", bridging the two environments. He also wanted to establish a relationship between the flying-oriented nature of Eve Online and the infantry-oriented nature of DUST 514, saying "while the fleet does the flying, the infantry does the dying". According to Game Informer, this gives fans and players of Eve Online a new challenge in testing their FPS skills. Brandon Laurino Executive Producer of Dust 514 has stated that there will not be a set number of maps at launch, "We are covering literally a universe of planets, so there's thousands of different maps and they're all available to everyone who's playing." Laurino revealed. They will not have to be paid for however "There won't be some section of the universe that's blocked off."

There are several online PS3 communities that started strong and have persisted. As long as they get a big enough initial push, they should be fine (especially since it's free-to-play). Numbers-wise, it will pale in comparison to CoD or Halo of course, but I'm sure they're aware of the limitations.

CCP has dropped the Xbox 360 as a potential platform, in an interview it was revealed that the choice of PlayStation 3 was partly influenced by Sony's more open platform allowing Dust 514 to connect to the EVE Online Server, Tranquility.